"We should get dressed..." Lei Xing said, not even making an attempt to move. She was resting on the Emperor's chest with her eyes closed. While the Emperor sat slanted on the throne chair, resting his back on one of the arm pillows put up on the back, with his legs stretched out with Lei Xing sitting in between them and both arms around Lei Xing, one petting her lightly stroking her hair with the other wrapped around her waist.

Lei Xing was always up for lazing around but they were not on their bed and it felt weird being n.a.k.e.d in such a huge and open space. They were in full, elevated view of the doors - if anyone opened them... Lei Xing inwardly sighed, she could not believe they just did that here, wasn't the throne chair supposed to be sacred or something? But then again...it was just a chair - albeit a fancy one, but the Emperor who technically owned it apparently did not care so why should she?

"Not yet." The Emperor said, snuggling her closer as he rubbed his face into her hair, eyes closed with a lazy smile, "There's no rush, no one will come in here..."

Lei Xing opened her eyes and scanned the huge room, her eyes fixed on the doors and she quietly went, "Still..."

"Not yet..." The Emperor repeated, taking her one of her hands and bringing it to his lips. Knowing the main reason for Lei Xing's concern, he sat up, still not releasing his hold on her waist as he leaned down and picked up his dragon robe from the ground. Then he rested back with her and dr.a.p.ed it on her, "Better?" He asked with a smile.

Lei Xing looked at him with a raised eyebrow then she smiled and shook her head, "Fine, I guess we can stay a bit longer..." She responded, resting her head back on his chest and circling her arms around his waist and closing her eyes again. She was so happy that this was so easily resolved, then again, it should have never been a problem.

The Emperor happily smiled and wrapped his arms around her under the robe. They quietly stayed like that for a while until the Emperor kissed her hair and very quietly said to himself, "... I would regret not having you in my life."

"What was that?" Lei Xing lazily asked, not quite having heard what he said.

"My voice - Well, that old man I guess. He said I would regret it if I let you leave the palace that day... My life would have been different without you...still unhappy and - Well, very different." He said rubbing his face in her hair again.

Lei Xing opened her eyes, thought for a bit and then said, "I'm sure it wouldn't have been that different. You would have simply fallen in love with someone else."

"I wouldn't have." The Emperor swiftly responded.

"You would, when someone seeks out love, they often find it ...Given the many opportunities around you, you would still have found happiness in someone else." Lei Xing said, closing her eyes again with a yawn.

The Emperor was quiet for a bit and knit his brows, "So you're saying you would have too... with someone else."

"I don't know, maybe, maybe not..." Lei Xing offhandedly responded, "Unlike you, I was never bothered about these things..." She added with another yawn.

The Emperor's knit eyebrows tightened and he went silent again. Lei Xing was already dozing off to sleep when the Emperor suddenly asked, "What did you think of my brother when you first met him?"

Lei Xing immediately frowned and sat up, holding the robe over herself as she glared at him, "Are we going to keep doing this today?" She irritatedly asked. She could only indulge jealousy to a certain extent.

The Emperor quickly sat up as well, grabbing her arms, worried she was about to storm off, "I'm just curious..." He said with a smile, "Truly..."

Lei Xing tentatively scrutinized his face and did not say anything. They had already been over this twice today and today was not the first time she had to clarify this to him. It was honestly quite the irritating subject for her and the more times she had to explain herself, the more irritating it was becoming.

"See...I'm not upset. I really just thought of it and was curious what your thoughts were. Nothing more to it, I promise... If you don't want to talk about it, we can talk about something else, hm?" He reassuringly and apologetically said, rubbing her arms as he slowly brought her back into his embrace.

"Fine..." Lei Xing mumbled and settled back in, still with a frown on her face.

The Emperor stroked her hair and kicked himself in his mind for asking that question. He was not even sure what he was thinking when he did. He was just wondering how life would have been like for them if he had let her leave the palace at the competition - if the Voice had not interfered. Would they still have met and fallen in love? Or would she truly have ended up with someone else? And who that someone else could possibly be. And in light of very recent events, the thought of someone else with her led to his brother and that question came about... and then he stupidly, blurted it out without thinking.

"Annoying..." Lei Xing quietly said, cutting through the Emperor's thoughts, he blinked down at her head and tentatively asked, "What is?" Worried about upsetting her...again.

"Your brother, he was annoying...still is." Lei Xing said with a disgruntled pout, hidden from the Emperor as she kept her head down.

{...He better not mention this again, or just might kill him ?_?)...}

The Emperor smiled, a bit too much, happy with that she still answered the questionand even happier with her response. Riding on that high, he asked, "What about me?"

Lei Xing raised her head and looked at him with condemning eyes, and the Emperor raised his eyebrows and indignantly said, "A curious mind is a sound mind..."

Lei Xing scoffed and shook her head and lowered her head, going back to her resting position.

The Emperor waited for a bit, but when she did not speak, he pinched her waist and sulkily went, "Xing er', tell me~" Lei Xing immediately slapped his hand and said, "You are also being annoying right now."

"En, I agree." The Emperor cheekily responded, What about back then?" He asked, unrelenting in his hunt for answers.

Lei Xing rolled her eyes and sighed, "Fine...Hmm." She thought for a bit and then went, "Yours is a bit complicated."

"How so?" The Emperor swiftly asked, knitting his brows. While it was not so important how she saw him back then, after all, he was well aware that she did not welcome his presence at the start. Still, he did not think it could be that bad... but he would not feel hurt if it was, probably... As long as it was not worse than annoying. But it was still just simple curiosity, it meant nothing.

"Well... In the beginning, I didn't think about you much, tried not to anyway. You're a bit hard to ignore." Lei Xing said, pinching him back with a smile, "Then I thought you were shady, very shady -"

"Shady?" The Emperor interrupted with a raised eyebrow, not understanding and Lei Xing quickly explained, "It means suspicious, everything you did was suspicious, shady - unclear, confusing, get it?"

The Emperor nodded as he knit his brows in thought.

{...Suspicious?...Is that better than annoying or not?...}

Lei Xing observed the Emperor's thinking face and could guess what was he was thinking. She lightly snorted and added, "Also petty..." The Emperor immediately frowned down at her and Lei Xing snorted again.

{...Very petty...}

Before the Emperor could begin another sulk campaign, Lei Xing quickly kissed his chin and said, "But I'm also quite the shady person, so we suit quite well.."

The Emperor, too easily appeased, smiled beautifully and went, "Naturally~" And then the smile disappeared and he raised his eyebrows and had to add, "And I'm only petty because of you."

Lei Xing blinked at him and then snorted in disbelief at this reasoning, she chuckled and then was about to rebut, but before her first word could form, the Emperor covered her mouth with his for a doting kiss, which quickly deepened into a lot more.

The Emperor ordinarily could not help himself whenever she was being sweet and coaxing him and with their current setting, it was even more impossible for him to resist wanting more. So the dragon robe quickly found its way back to the floor again as the two happily frolicked about, the atmosphere quickly heating up again.

But before their passion could fully ignite, they were interrupted by Eunuch Li's voice calling from outside, "Your majesty, I have urgent news..."

Shocked, Lei Xing instinctively rolled off of him, landing on the floor in the process. She immediately grabbed the robe and loosely wrapped it around herself. She was about to start crawling to locate her clothes, when the Emperor reached down, hooked an arm around her waist and pulled her back up on the throne chair and whispered, "Relax, he won't open the doors..."

No matter how urgent the matter was, Eunuch Li knew better than to barge in here when the Emperor had specifically ordered everyone out of not just the room, but the entire building. Eunuch Li naturally knew better.

"What is it?" The Emperor called out, both annoyed at both being interrupted and at whatever problem has cropped up now to re-ruin his day.

There was a slight delay on the other side, before Eunuch Li's response came, "...The one called Monk Du is here to see you." Eunuch Li finally responded.